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Psychology 301

PSYC 301: Analysis of Psychological Data

Prerequisite: PSYC 121
Pre or corequisite: STAT 200 or permission of the instructor

Credit Hours: (3)

ntroduces students to the major methods and techniques employed in the analysis of behavioral data, including descriptive statistics, graphing, measures of the degree of association between variables, and techniques in statistical inference. During the laboratory portion of the class students will (a) complete exercises that provide hands-on experience with concepts presented in lecture and (b) analyze data addressing empirical questions in a variety of areas in psychology.

Note(s): Students may not receive credit for PSYC 301 after passing PSYC 201.

A combination of lecture, informal discussion, in-class activities, and out-of-class assignments may be used in the lecture portion of the course. These components will focus upon the text or other assigned readings, audio-visual presentations, or other relevant materials drawn from the popular cultural media and current events. The same techniques may be used during the laboratory portion of the course, supplemented by extensive hands-on experience working with statistical concepts presented in lecture. In the laboratory, students will apply data analytic skills to address empirical questions in a variety of areas of psychology and present their analyses in the format prescribed by the American Psychological Association.

Goals and Objectives of the Course

Having successfully completed the course, the students will be able to:
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge and comprehension of the analysis of behavioral data; including the ability to recognize, recall, define, explain, and provide examples of major concepts, principles, or methods of data analysis.
b. Describe groups of scores in terms of their distribution, average, and variability.
c. Transform original raw scores to widely-used alternative forms, including composite scores, standard scores, percentile scores, and T-scores.
d. Use techniques of statistical inference to test for relationships among variables.
e. Use SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) to generate statistical results.
f. Present statistical results in APA-style research papers.
g. Critically evaluate the Results sections of APA-style research reports.

Assessment Measures

Student performance will be assessed based on some combination of the following: 1) in- or out of-class examinations, which may consist of objective or essay questions, 2) In-class or out-of-class quizzes and/or assignments, 3) laboratory reports presenting the results of data analyses, 4). oral presentations, 5) class attendance and participation.